NewsFlash

Tariff tracker - https://www.newsweek.com/map-tracker-new-trump-tariffs-every-country-2110088

Donald Trump Threatens 250% Tariff on Pharmaceuticals - https://www.newsweek.com/donald-trump-threatens-250-pharmaceuticals-tariff-2109801



AHEM -

What’s the status of tariff litigation?  Ruled unlawful by two different courts.These rulings are now stayed pending appeal.  "The Federal Circuit’s expedited review could yield a decision by late summer or early fall. From there, a Supreme Court petition could be filed before year’s end, with a final ruling possible by June 2026."  https://www.thomsonreuters.com/en-us/posts/corporates/tariff-litigation/


[I can just imagine the chaos if the tariffs are ruled unlawful by the Supreme Court and refunds are required, in addition to the "snapped back rubberband effect" on the US stock market and global markets as a whole. But it would be better than leaving him with that power. Which, when one thinks of it, is his primary, if not only, "negotiating" tool. But it's going to be a long year, until then.]

This is possibly a duplicate of an earlier post/post content:  Video shows Department of Justice senior advisor Jared Wise urging Jan. 6 rioters to 'kill' cops - https://www.npr.org/2025/08/07/nx-s1-5493197/doj-trump-jan-6-defendant-jared-wise-capitol-riot

And

The White House has instructed NASA employees to plan to terminate two major, climate change-focused satellite missions. The data the satellites collect is widely used by scientists, oil and gas companies, and farmers. They are the only two that were designed specifically to monitor planet-warming greenhouse gases. https://www.npr.org/2025/08/04/nx-s1-5453731/nasa-carbon-dioxide-satellite-mission-threatened

And

Back to Birthright Citizenship (a Constitutionally protected status) that Trump is trying to negate by Executive Order: The 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the judge’s ruling that blocked implementation of the order nationwide. The  DOJ tells judge it will ask Supreme Court to quickly rule on constitutionality of Trump’s birthright citizenship order (aka, they're appealing to the Supreme Court). -  https://www.cnn.com/2025/08/06/politics/birthright-citizenship-supreme-court-trump    [Refer back to "reply 1" in this string of posts.]

And

Court temporarily blocks Trump from reallocating FEMA disaster preparedness funds - https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/5437562-trump-fema-disaster-preparedness-funds-bric/ "A coalition of 20 Democrat-led states sued the Trump administration over its move to end the Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) program, which helps fund infrastructure upgrades to make communities more prepared for extreme weather.'

And

Trump is now hand-picking/vetting candidates for top military positions - https://apnews.com/article/trump-generals-meeting-candidates-four-star-00ddfa91be57fb92eb616694ef50b6ba or https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/29/us/politics/generals-trump.html


And

CBS is no longer free press, but controlled by the Trump administration. A post from a FCC comissioner (who I assume will be out of a job shortly): "FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez‬  ‪@agomezfcc.bsky.social‬  After months of cowardly capitulation to this Administration, Paramount finally got what it wanted. Now it's time for companies, journalists, and citizens alike to stand up and speak out, because unchecked and unquestioned power has no rightful place in America.  I dissent. 🧵"



Continuing from her BlueSky account: "A government-sanctioned "truth arbiter" will soon arrive at CBS. Their role will be to ensure that journalists do not criticize this Administration or express views that conflict with its agenda. This is a betrayal—not just of journalistic independence, but of the public trust."

I thought it might be interesting to compile recent activities/actions/outcomes related to the earliest posts here.  As the research is a bit time-consuming, I'll do it in batches. If there's not an entry, either there was nothing to comment on, the post was related to another post that is updated below, or there has been no change.

Batch 1 - posts 1 through 25

Reply #1. Move to eliminate birthright citizenship by Presidential Executive Order. - Struck down as unlawful by the courts, including a Federal Appeals Court. Currently Trump Admin is planning to request the Supreme Court overturn the Appeals Court verdict.

Reply #2. - Move to end Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion programs. - They have pretty much been gutted in any agency/organization that had them and that also received federal funding, which was withheld until they were in compliance with Trump Administration's requirements. (And, in some cases, funding was never restored.)

Reply #4. - ICE going into churches, hospitals, and schools to disappear people, and the role of the Church in protecting people. Optics are very bad for ICE raiding schools, hospitals, etc., but they are still doing it. The Catholic Church has strongly protested treatment of immigrants by ICE, but aside from one day of accompanying immigrants to administrative immigration hearings, I have heard nothing of them doing much, other than preaching about the situation. Organizations from several other denominations (Protestant, Jewish) have also registered strong objections. Again, I have seen nothing in the way of these entities doing much other than objecting on paper, making press releases, and the occasional demonstration. Vice Pres. JD Vance, supposedly a Catholic convert, traded barbs with the Pope and was schooled on what Church doctrine actually is relating to immigrants. (Which was not JD Vance's interpretation of it.)

Reply # 8.  RFK nomination to head HHS. Sadly, he was confirmed. The vote was 52 to 48, with a rare dissenting vote by Republican Senator Mitch McConnell.

Reply #12.  Tariffs. I think I have whiplash. In any event, there appear to be two streams of legal action, and Trump has lost in both, but is now appealing to the Supreme Court:

1) V.O.S. Selections Inc. v. Trump was heard by the U.S. Court of International Trade (CIT), a specialized court with jurisdiction over customs and trade matters, which found Trump had unlawfully instituted tariffs; and,
2)  Learning Resources, Inc. v. Trump, before the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.  The DC District court went even further, holding that the IEEPA doesn’t authorize tariffs at all.

These rulings are both now stayed pending appeal by the Trump Administration. The last action I can find pertains to a Writ of Certiorari filed by the petitioners, and language regarding future action by the Supreme Court, possibly with deliberations being undertaken by September of this year.   http://www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/24/24-1287/363370/20250617121408066_No-___Learning_Resources_Petition_For_A_Writ_Of_Certiorari_Before_Judgment.pdf


Reply #13. Removal of data from government websites - Many court challenges. Some data is back, some is not. Refer to: https://www.mlanet.org/article/accessing-public-data-removed-from-us-government-websites/   to access missing data.   Agencies plan to decommission hundreds of .gov websites following GSA review - https://federalnewsnetwork.com/it-modernization/2025/07/agencies-plan-to-decommission-hundreds-of-gov-websites-following-gsa-review/   Status of datasets - https://libguides.oxy.edu/data/data_rescue  See also - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2025_United_States_government_online_resource_removals

Reply #14. - Mass firing employees at the Environmental Protection Agency. Search Assist says:  The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is reducing its staff by over 3,700 employees, which is nearly 23% of its workforce. This includes significant layoffs from its Office of Research and Development, where as many as 1,155 scientists and other staff could be affected. Court cases ensued.  The result: the Supreme Court gave Trump the go-ahead for mass firings across the federal government.  https://www.politico.com/news/2025/07/08/supreme-court-federal-worker-firings-ruling-00442721?nid=0000014f-1646-d88f-a1cf-5f46b7bd0000&nname=playbook&nrid=04ae65fd-bf53-40ae-bcf3-e2a5e818aaed

Reply #17. - Bombing Somalia. Apparently so. 24 Jul 2025 "According to a report released last week by the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project (ACLED), since Trump’s re-entry into office on January 20, the US has carried out 529 air attacks in 240 locations across the Middle East, Central Asia and Africa."  https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/7/24/bomb-first-trumps-approach-to-us-war-making-in-his-second-term    Over FIVE HUNDRED attacks in five months. Aside from the moral outrage of destruction and lives lost, that's gotta be costing a LOT of money that we taxpayers are on the hook for.  Five hundred attacks for a country not at war with any other country. Boggles the mind.

Reply #18. -  DOGE diddling the Social Security Administration.  Supreme Court Rules DOGE Can Access Social Security Data and Avoid FOIA - https://natlawreview.com/article/supreme-court-rules-doge-can-access-social-security-data-and-avoid-foia-now

Reply #19. - Disappearing CDC website info - partially restored, but not completely, after court order. I find no info online more recent than February. - https://apnews.com/article/cdc-fda-websites-restored-ad1ec005261b31986ddcd3d1d17b249d

Reply # 25. -  Original: covered up photos honoring women & persons of color at the National Cryptologic Museum as part of anti-DEI.  https://bsky.app/profile/genmhayden.bsky.social/post/3lh6a65lgx226   Brown paper removed, "it was a mistake" - https://www.huffpost.com/entry/national-cryptologic-museum-covers-nsa-displays-dei_n_67a36924e4b0eeea940d825f

Batch 2 - through Reply #51

Reply # 28.  Deportation of Venezuelans to CECOT prison in El Salvador without due process -  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/arch_2025_American_deportations_of_Venezuelans   US deports hundreds of Venezuelans despite court order - https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cp9yv1gnzyvo   Supreme Court allows White House to end protections for 350K Venezuelans for now - https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/supreme-court-allows-trump-administration-end-protections-venezuelan/story?id=121956271   They are hanging out in the breeze.

Reply #32.- FBI purge related to prior investigations of Trump. Lawsuits still flying.  Today - FBI ousts ex-acting director, other agents, in latest purge, people briefed say - https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/fbi-ousts-ex-acting-director-195011677.html   Related - US Special Counsel Jack Smith: https://www.politico.com/newsletters/west-wing-playbook-remaking-government/2025/08/06/about-that-jack-smith-investigation-00496005 and https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/3-biggest-problems-new-unwarranted-investigation-jack-smith-rcna222856

Reply #33., see also Reply #51. - Abrupt cancelling of USAID  humanitarian and food supplies to impoverished people abroad.  "The dismantling of USAID has already had a negative impact on the lives of tens of millions of poor and vulnerable people in some 130 countries. And the evisceration of USAID is undermining our national interest."  https://thehill.com/opinion/international/5409151-a-postmortem-on-the-dismantling-of-usaid/ Anticipated deaths due to cessation of USAID -   approximately 14,051,750 souls, including 4,537,157 in children younger than age 5 years, by 2030. Give or take. Source: https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(25)01186-9/fulltext

That's a lot of blood for Trump to have on his hands.


Reply #35. - Trump had the Corps. of Engineers in Northern California release water saved in reservoirs during rainy periods to be used during the dry season. It ran out onto non-productive land and either evaporated or soaked into the soil. End result - wasted water in an arid climate.

Reply #45. -  NOAA to pause work "with foreign nationals" - The situation appears to be a "no change", per Search Assist:  The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has been ordered to temporarily stop all communications and collaborations with foreign nationals, which could significantly impact climate research, weather forecasting, and fisheries management. This decision has raised concerns among experts about its potential long-term effects on global climate science and data sharing.   There are a lot fewer people working at NOAA now anyway....

Reply # 46. - The US National Science Foundation (NSF) grant funding and DEI. Last week - Judge allows the National Science Foundation to withhold hundreds of millions of research dollars   https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/judge-allows-national-science-foundation-220040161.html

Batch 3 - Replies #53 - 100


Reply #53. - Ellen L. Weintraub‬, Chair of Federal Election Commission, illegally fired. "Weintraub sounded the alarm early–and continues to do so–regarding the potential for corporate and “dark-money” spending to become a vehicle for foreign influence in our elections."  Trump fired her, although she says the firing was illegal. [Surprise, surprise.]  She was locked out of all computer and data systems. Trump's targeting of Weintraub drew a sharp a rebuke from former Republican FEC Commissioner Trevor Potter, who was appointed by President George H.W. Bush and served in the 1990s. He said the action "violates the law, the separation of powers, and generations of Supreme Court precedent."   https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2025/02/07/trump-fires-fec-chair-ellen-weintraub/78324207007/    See also https://fortune.com/2025/05/20/ellen-weintraub-fired-government-leader/   There are now three empty positions on the six-person commission, and Trump appears to be keeping it that way, so they are for all intents hamstrung.

Reply #73. -  Immigrant neighbor with small child in immigrant housing area. Several people are just gone. Some left their cars behind, apparently.  Some apparently left their furniture. I assume they voluntarily went home, as I think we'd have heard of an ICE raid in my area. For many months there were no children out playing. They are back out now, but are playing in groups supervised by several adults at any given time and seem more subdued than in the past. I no longer see people out walking alone. They are walking in groups of two or three, at a minimum.  The little girl in Reply #73 can now ride her bike without training wheels.

Reply # 77. - The SAVE voting act.  It passed.  https://apnews.com/article/congress-save-act-citizenship-voting-elections-a37c139461d11eb5f82086680b67ffe7

Reply #84. -  Still true. And always will be.

Reply #88. - FEMA freeze on funding.   April - States say Trump's continued freeze on much-needed FEMA aid violates a judge's order  https://www.npr.org/2025/04/02/nx-s1-5345777/trump-states-fema-funds  This week - Court temporarily blocks Trump from reallocating FEMA disaster preparedness funds https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/5437562-trump-fema-disaster-preparedness-funds-bric/

Reply #90. - $400,000,000 for Musk Tesla Tanks.The State Department, at one point, published a procurement plan for $400 million worth of "armored Tesla." After news reports broke about the plan, however, the department replaced "armored Tesla" with "armored electric vehicles" in the document before removing the $400 million contract entirely. They claimed the contract was left from the Biden Administration. However, the Biden administration's finalized plan set aside only $483,000 for light-duty — not specifically Tesla — electric vehicles and $3 million for supporting equipment, such as charging stations.  Apparently this Tesla vehicle has stalled.  https://www.snopes.com/news/2025/02/14/state-department-armored-teslas/

Reply #100. - No change. Still appropriate.

I don't know how many people read this, but for anyone who has - I hope keeping you informed has been useful to you in some way.  And with that, I'll bow out for a while. But before I go - for your consideration:

There is the Supreme Court case pending about the legality of Trump slapping tariffs on imports to the USA - it's coming up soon.  That doesn't probably matter a lot to folks who are not in the USA unless you're a merchant selling to us, or employed by one. But if the Supreme Court upholds the existing rulings of two different courts (US Court of International Trade and the  U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia)  that he's overstepped his authority, it could get even more interesting. He'll either have to scrap the centerpiece of his agenda and the only international policy leverage he really has (other than the military), having pretty much destroyed diplomatic relations with other countries, or he'll have to ignore the Supreme Court's ruling that he's unlawfully taxing US citizens. I could conjecture about what would happen if he says the Supreme Court is rigged and refuses the decision. But so can you. (Ref - Jan 6).

There is Trump's attempt to redraw Texas voting lines to insure he has enough votes to carry the House of Representatives in the mid-terms. He is, in effect, openly trying to "cheat" the system. That's a can of worms right now.  Should Texas actually do that, there are blue states saying they'll do the same to increase the number of Democratic House  Representatives. If Trump loses control of the House in the mid-terms, he won't be able to ram his agenda items through the Congress as he's been doing on party-line votes since taking office.  If he wins enough seats by any means, God help us. Because we won't see another fair and free election.

Women no longer have complete control over their own bodies in parts of this country.  LGBTQ rights are being shredded. The disabled community is getting kicked to the gutter.  Higher Education and independent scholarship/research is under tremendous attacks. Basic education isn't doing much better. Immigrants, even those with the appropriate papers and status, are not safe. Workers rights are being gutted. Medical care... yeah, if you're rich you'll be fine.

All the red-alert sirens and bells on the economy are going off in a major way. The stats are bad and out there now for all to see, and Trump firing the head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics hasn't smoothed investors' nerves.  So it looks like Trump is, as he has done with his bankrupt businesses, tanking the country.  Before he took office we had a good, solid economy and a great unemployment rate. We are now very close to the situation we were in at the start of the Great Depression. That all didn't stay within US borders, and I doubt what appears to be coming down the road will, either. I am truly sorry if this country's stupidity is going to cause you difficulties. For what that's worth.

Even in the very best-case scenario, it'll take a long time to put things to rights. I don't see a such an opportunity in the near future. On the good side, even Trump supporters are starting to wise up as evidenced by town hall meetings and the almost complete disappearance of "Trump" signs on lawns, etc. On the bad side, it'll be too late when enough of them start being hurt enough to get a clue.  If enough of them don't catch on before the mid-terms, and especially if there is redistricting rammed through, it'll be irreparable. I never cease to be amazed at how some people would rather believe "the big lie" than see what's directly in front of them. Especially if what's in front of them is on train tracks heading straight for them at full speed. While some snake oil salesman tells them there's nothing there at all.

There is real suffering in some quarters here now, and I fully expect there will be enough of it to spread around to a lot more people in the next few years.  So if you think of us, and have a spare moment, won't you say a little prayer on our behalf? It couldn't hurt.